# Fastest Route **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2000, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-route/10386 "2000-04-14T18:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flat\_U.Lance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90db22/32.png) [@Flat\_U.Lance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flat_U.Lance)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-route/10386/1 "2000-04-14T18:09:00Z")
What is the fastest route between Rochester, New York and Hickory, North Carolina? I don’t mean computer’s route from the internet. I mean a route that someone has actually taken. ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-route/10386/2 "2000-04-14T18:18:00Z")
Via Airlines * * * One of the few to be personally welcomed to the board by Ed Zotti. Yours truly, aha ---
**Author:** ![Flat\_U.Lance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90db22/32.png) [@Flat\_U.Lance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flat_U.Lance)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-route/10386/3 "2000-04-14T18:23:00Z")
The airlines won’t have me. I need a road route. ---
**Author:** ![Flat\_U.Lance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90db22/32.png) [@Flat\_U.Lance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flat_U.Lance)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-route/10386/4 "2000-04-14T18:25:00Z")
The airlines won’t have me. I need a road route. ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-route/10386/5 "2000-04-14T20:46:00Z")
try [http://www.mapquest.com](http://www.mapquest.com) ---
**Author:** ![TNTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@TNTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNTruth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-route/10386/6 "2000-04-15T02:50:00Z")
Flat, Find the quickest route to I-81 South. The road runs right along the crest of the Appalachians thru PA and into VA. Then it dips down into the beautiful Shenandoah Valley until you hit I-77 South in southwestern VA, just past Pulaski. Take I-77 on in to NC until you hit I-40. Go West, and Hickory is about 30 mi. It’s a gorgeous drive the whole way, and if you take more than 12 hrs, your taking too many comfort stops. Ruth P.S. I wasn’t out there yesterday, so don’t blame me for construction crews. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-route/10386/7 "2000-04-15T10:01:00Z")
I think you can save about an hour over the I-81 route given above. I personally know the route given below, except the last 200 miles from Beckley to Hickory. Take I-90 to Erie, Penna… Then I-79 south, past Pittsburgh and into W.Va. Follow I-79 to exit 57 in West Virginia. Take US Route 19 south. This is not an interstate, but don’t let that scare you off. It’s is a four-lane highway with no no traffic lights or stop signs. (there is cross-traffic; they have stop signs, but you don’t.) Speed limit on Rt. 19 was only 55 when I was last on it (about 7 years ago), but the cops in W.Va. are not too trigger happy with their radar guns. (I lived there for 4 years and never got stopped). Get on I-77 south (toll road, W.Va. Turnpike) near Beckley. Follow I-77 through Va. and into N.C. Then take I-40 west to Hickory. Speed limit, I think, is 65 all the way except city areas and the 60 miles of US19. On the other route, the stretch of I-81 between Syracuse and the Pennsylvania line was 55 the last time I was on it. Pennsylvania is mostly 65 now I think, on both routes. On the eastern route there’s a slowdown to 55 between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and a few miles on either side. Another slowdown around Harrisburg. Western route has a slowdown around Pittsburgh. One added benefit of my route, if you’re not afraid of heights, is that it will take you over [The New River Gorge Bridge](http://www.nps.gov/neri/bridge.htm). * * * Work is the curse of the drinking classes. (Oscar Wilde)